The Iron Triangle and the Military Industrial Complex Sociology Help

The Iron Triangle and the Military Industrial Complex
What exactly is the triangle. and how does it work? According to the sociologist Joe Feagin The Iron Triangle has a revolving door of money, influence, and jobs among these three sets of actors, involving trillions of dollars. Military contractors who receive contracts from the Defense Department serve on the advisory committees that recommend what weapons they believe are needed. Many people move around the triangle from job to job. serving in the military, then in the Defense Department, then in military industries, (Feagin and Feagin. 1994:405)

The long-term relationships found in this arrangement are part of what is referred to as the military-industrial complex-the mutual interdependence of the military establishment and private military contractors. The term was used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. a retired live-star general. in his presidential farewell address in 1961. when he warned against, the potential power of a huge military establishment working with a large arms industry: